340 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



poses. These are the Viper, the Rattlesnake, the Cobra, the 

 Boa Constrictor. 



The Viper. The Viper is found throughout Europe and is 

 the only venomous reptile known in England. It feeds on 

 frogs, lizards, mice and other small animals, but like many of 

 the snake kind often gorges itself and falls a victim to its 

 own rapacity. A Viper mentioned in the " Magazine of 

 Natural History" swallowed a lizard almost as large as itself, 

 with the result that one of the lizard's legs protruded through 

 its side. Another Viper came into the possession of Professor 

 Bell, which had lost its life through attempting to swallow a 

 mouse which was too big for it, the skin of its neck being so 

 distended as to burst in several places. The sting of the 

 Viper, though venomous, is not nearly so fatal as is com- 

 monly supposed. The simplest remedy is suction, a fomen- 

 tation, and the application of oil. Vipers are sometimes 

 caught by the sudden seizure of the hand, at the neck, where- 

 upon the creature opens its mouth to bite its captor who cuts 

 off its fangs with a pair of scissors. 



The Viper " On August 4th, 1776," says Gilbert White, 

 and its " we surprised a large viper, which seemed very 

 m18 ' heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass basking in 

 the sun. When we came to cut it up, we found that the 

 abdomen was crowded with young, fifteen in number ; the 

 shortest of which measured full seven inches, and were about 

 the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued into 

 the world with the true viper-spirit about them, showing 

 great alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly of the 

 dam : they twisted and wriggled about, and set themselves up, 

 and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, showing 

 manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet they 

 had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with the 

 help of our glasses. To a thinking mind nothing is more 

 wonderful than that early instinct which impresses young ani- 

 mals with a notion of the situation of their natural weapons, 



